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2018 Robloxian television transition
The 2018 Robloxian television transition was the migration of many Robloxian television channels from the Original Livestream platform to other streaming platforms. Plans for migration began initially when it was announced that Adobe Flash Player, the plugin used by Original Livestream, would be rendered obsolete by the end of 2020; these plans were accelerated when it was announced that the Original Livestream platform would close on July 9, 2018. Since the announcement of the shuttering of Original Livestream, July 9th became an unofficial deadline for broadcasters to switch to other means of streaming content. Some broadcasters also took the opportunity to upgrade their low-quality Original Livestream broadcasts to high-definition formats; thus the transition was also referred to as the "HD Switchover", the marketing and publicity term started by the Roblox Television Networks Group for the transition. The HD Switchover campaign also served as the main promotional tool for the transition. While July 9, 2018 is the closure date for Original Livestream (and, as aforementioned, the unofficial transition date), each Robloxian television broadcaster has its own strategy for the transition, and is responsible for handling the move; broadcasters were urged to transition earlier, rather than closer to the closure date of Original Livestream. However, as of mid-July 2018, only a few broadcasters have completely migrated away from Original Livestream, most notably rTV Networks; most other broadcasters are still figuring out their plans. The transition is considered the most significant change to happen to Robloxian television to date, even surpassing the launch of premium television channels and services, due to the vast scope of the change and the fact that it impacts all aspects of Robloxian broadcasting operations, access, and viewership. History Pre-transition At the beginnings of the Robloxian television industry, Livestream (later known as "Original Livestream", due to the launch of "New Livestream", a later service) was chosen as the platform to be used by the first Robloxian television broadcasters. Livestream was chosen due to its rich and unique feature set compared to other services at the time (and many today): the ability to upload content into a dedicated backend, operate live programming in addition to pre-recorded and looped programming, and utilize unique features such as channel bugs, test cards, and lower-thirds, similar to a real television channel. (Additionally, Livestream offered a chat feature on channel pages, which proved popular on early channels; though as most Robloxian content viewing moved to premium television services, that feature became far less used and ultimately no longer managed or advertised.) The similarities to actual television channel operations available through Livestream were what made the service attractive, and as the industry grew, Livestream became the standard medium for broadcasting content, even as the quality of video content on the internet improved to offer high-definition and even 4K viewing options. Although Original Livestream was the standard, there were some drawbacks to the platform. Video quality was limited (to a resolution of 480x270 for channels which broadcast in a 16:9 aspect ratio), and, as rTV Networks found out through the launch of rTV3 in June 2017, while Livestream had the ability to operate programming loops which enabled 24-hour broadcasting (as opposed to a small schedule of broadcasts on early Robloxian TV channels), the playout of this content was imprecise and wildly unpredictable, with timings and content lengths stated within the Livestream Studio backend platform proving to be incorrect, with content playing earlier than promoted or advertised. As Original Livestream was the standard of the industry and still highly operable, even as Adobe Flash fell out of favor and video quality increased elsewhere on the internet, very few channels opted to broadcast using other platforms. Among the few which did, the most notable were RPN (which used Ustream, now IBM Cloud Video, in 2015) and DogeTV (which also used Ustream prior to moving to Original Livestream in the fall of 2017). A key reason why almost no other broadcasters joined them (thus initiating either a splintering in platforms used or an earlier transition) was that at the time, no other service known by the industry could compete with the features offered by Original Livestream, which outweighed the few limitations of the platform. Discontinuation of Flash On July 25, 2017, it was announced that support for Adobe Flash Player would be discontinued by both Adobe and most web browsers by the end of 2020. The Original Livestream platform is run on Adobe Flash Player; therefore once Flash Player support is discontinued, Original Livestream will be essentially rendered unusable; and given the company dropped support for Original Livestream several years prior, there are no plans for further development of the Original Livestream platform to protect it from this change. After hearing the news, on July 26, 2017, the Robloxian Television Networks Group began discussions, research, and testing with many members of the industry to find ways to "future-proof" Robloxian television (a goal desirable since the end of company support for Original Livestream). Among the potential goals in the development, besides moving from Original Livestream, was launching Robloxian television channels in high definition for the first time; something that, while feasible from a production standpoint (HD became a standard format in the industry as it became the standard IRL), was not feasible from a broadcast stance using Original Livestream. Closure of the Original Livestream platform On April 4, 2018, Livestream sent an email to all users of Original Livestream announcing that the Original Livestream platform would shut down on July 9, 2018. The announcement came as a surprise to the industry, as it now meant there was only four months to migrate away from the Original Livestream platform, rather than the year-plus until Flash was discontinued. Given the search for new "future-proof" platforms had already proved fruitful, some companies began developing full migration strategies. On April 8, 2018, the RTNG officially launched its "HD Switchover" marketing campaign to promote and publicize the transition. Shuttering of Ustream/IBM Cloud Video In June 2018, IBM Cloud Video announced that they would be closing their free service on August 1, 2018. DogeTV had intended to use Ustream as their future platform of choice when migrating from Original Livestream. Impact Benefits The 2018 television transition will allow broadcasters to broadcast in higher resolutions for the first time; most broadcasters will likely upgrade to high-definition (HD) as part of the switch, given broadcasters have long been producing in the format, but broadcasts in 4K are also theoretically possible. Compared to a 480x270 Original Livestream stream, a 1920x1080 HD stream offers a sixteen-times higher-resolution picture than was previously possible on Livestream. Additionally, channels will be able to broadcast in improved sound quality, as Original Livestream also limits audio bitrate to 64kbps. Drawbacks A major concern with the transition is that the IRL-content channels which had flourished in the last years of Original Livestream (such as rTV3) would no longer be viable. rTV Networks, the owners of the aforementioned channel, however, claimed confidence in being able to continue broadcasts of IRL-content channels following the transition, and launched rTV HD2 in the spring of 2018 to operate tests. A further important concern is that of the ability to schedule programming, which has become more popular among broadcasters in recent times. As part of their research into "future-proof" platforms, the RTNG has suggested platforms which offer some level of scheduling functionality, however it may not prove to be comparable to Livestream Studio for some broadcasters. Additionally, content storage is also an issue; aside from Twitch, none of the services suggested by the RTNG offer direct storage on the streaming service's servers, in contrast to Livestream Studio where the entire service was effectively self-contained. Additionally, there are concerns that smaller networks will not be aware of the transition, and thus will lose their channels unexpectedly. Premium television platform roTV, the main way in which many viewers watch most Robloxian television channels, effectively stated in a tweet in June 2018 that channels which did not make the transition would lose their channel numbers in future updates to roTV (though it was not specified what future update this would take effect in). Transition timeline The following are explanations about how various companies are handling the transition away from Original Livestream. Large and midsize companies Roblox Television Networks Group On April 8, 2018, the Roblox Television Networks Group launched its "HD Switchover" promotional campaign to make broadcasters aware of the changes and to offer assistance with the transition. It included a website featuring a countdown to the date Original Livestream will close, information for viewers and broadcasters, and promotional tools. During April 2018, tests were conducted on premium television platform roTV to ensure the service was capable of handling the new broadcasting platforms proposed during the "future-proofing" evaluations previously conducted. On April 21, 2018, RTN1 HD launched, using Twitch. It is a high-definition simulcast of RTN1. Twitch was selected as the broadcast medium of choice due to its popularity and minimal learning curve for new broadcasters, in line with the RTNG's aims for RTN1 to be a public broadcasting channel open to various third parties. rTV Networks On April 4, 2018, nearly immediately after the announcement of Original Livestream's impending closure, rTV Networks owner BenzBot released a statement vowing to convert all of rTVN's channels to HD platforms by the shutdown date. During rTVN's brief acquisition of Lava Lamp Entertainment, he extended that promise to those channels as well, albeit at a later time than rTVN's main channel slate. On April 21, 2018, rTV Networks launched the beginnings of its high-definition migration strategy, starting with seven high-definition channels on roTV: HD simulcasts of rTV, Rnetwork, Blox News Channel, Viva Roblox, Viva2, and Blox Sports. For the channels not already ready to move to high definition, rTV Networks also launched rTV HD2 on that date for the purposes of testing the remaining channels and their content. Tests had been running on the channel in private over the prior week as basic channel management issues for HD2 and other future rTVN channels were handled. rTV Networks launched an HD simulcast of Blox Sports 2 on May 24, 2018, following their acquisition of Lava Sports 2 from Lava Lamp Entertainment; HD simulcasts of the company's IRL kids'-content channels (rTV3, rTV3+, rTV3 GT, and rTV Fun) on June 21, 2018; and the company's remaining channels (rTV2, rTV Life, GTV, Blox, Blox Flickz, and rTV Max) on July 4, 2018, three days later than initially planned. rTV Networks' HD channels operate as simulcasts of their Original Livestream "SD" counterparts, and remained exclusive to roTV until July 1, 2018, the seventh anniversary of the company, at which time they were set to replace the Original Livestream feeds; this did not happen on roTV until an update on July 4, 2018. A programming loop ran between July 1 and July 9 on the former Livestream services as a "nightlight" service informing viewers of the shutdown of rTVN's Original Livestream services and prompting them to move to the HD services. Said service launched on all rTV Networks-owned channels (except for Viva Roblox and Viva2, where instead the loop replaced those channels' commercial breaks) on the afternoon of July 1, 2018 (Viva and Viva2 started their service that morning). Lava Lamp Entertainment For channels part of Lava Lamp Entertainment, which had been a subsidiary of rTV Networks for a period of time during the transition, due to the changes in stream ownership initially required, programming would not have been simulcast and instead the new high-definition versions of LLE channels would outright replace the standard definition versions as they launch. After WeepinnWillow's return, she intended to stick with rTVN's plans. On May 22, 2018, Lava Lamp launched HD versions of Harmony, The News Network, Destination Robloxia and LSN. They also announced that Harmony, TNN and Cartoon Everything's Original Livestream feeds would serve as "nightlight" stations. The nightlight began on July 4, 2018 at 7pm ET. FMC's standard-definition channel was replaced outright with a high-definition version on May 24, 2018. As part of the transition to high-definition, Cartoon Everything will be rebranded as Toonvision, in a long-delayed move; Toonvision HD was made available as a stream on July 8, 2018, but it has not yet been made available on a premium television platform. Hexahedron Television Networks On April 6, 2018, Hexahedron Television Networks moved their main channel, Hexahedron Network, to Twitch. There has been no word as to if or when the company's other channels will migrate. RBC Networks Due to the fact that RBC already broadcasts through YouTube, it is not affected by the television transition. However, some changes will be required during the transition period as RBC plans to relaunch Cartoon Network Roblox during the transition. Cartoon Network Roblox relaunched on roTV on July 4, 2018. AAK Corporation AAK has recently announced its plans for its channels to cope with the new changed in the industry. It has already transitioned its flagship channel, AAK Network, or AAKN, from Original Livestream to Viloud, and released the AAK Business channel under Twitch, and is planning to transition AAKN2, AAKNY and AAKUK into Viloud channels. AAK News will no longer be a channel, but instead a program aired on AAKNY and AAKNUK. AAK Network is transitioning into High-definition, with some programming already qualifying as so. While it is to remain a 24/7 channel, the other 4 channels to be rebooted by the company will not be. Bluevale Media Bluevale Media had benefited from the HD switchover, there had been tests before which have been proven successful, Clubclubtv was the first to come out, which had began broadcasting on August 1st, 2018. TOONY and NBS followed a year later. Bluevale Media is currently looking into Zenither. Small companies Buddbudd Studios Buddbudd Studios launched a Twitch service in January 2018, as a replacement for their former Original Livestream service BBMN. On January 21, 2018, BBS merged BBS Channel and BBGN into the service and relaunched it as a singular channel replacing all three services on a new Twitch URL. BloxyTelevisio Osakeyhtiö BloxyTelevisio operates 3 channels that have always aired on Twitch platform since 2016. Meanwhile they are launching BloxyTV HD Channel that would stream on autopilot system. However it is unknown if BloxyTV HD channel would get obsolete. Since BloxyTV1,TV2 and TV3 air on 480p meanwhile BloxyTV HD airs on 720p to 1080p (May change) Which probably means that BloxyTelevisio will do some changes. JNetworks JNetworks currently plans to maintain a single channel as part of their transition strategy, and, as they are moving to Twitch, intends to reduce the amount of IRL content they air in the future, in order to avoid violations of the Twitch platform's policy on copyrights. To do this, JNetworks plans to seek out more obscure programs in a bid to reduce the potential for claims of copyright violations.Category:Summary